About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (March 3, 1955)
k Alabama MONTGOMERY, Ala. G OV. JAMES E. FOLSOM’S giant road program dominated the in terests of the Alabama legislature during February, but there were indications that school matters were on the minds of the governor, the legislators, educators over the state, and the public. Gov. Folsom called the special ses sion of the legislature—which may be the first of several such special session calls between now and the time of the regular biennial meeting in May—to consider his proposed road program, financed largely by an increase in gasoline taxes. While the lawmakers were so en gaged, Gov. Folsom met with the state superintendent of education and 111 city and county superinten dents from all parts of the state. The meeting was called by Dr. Austin Meadows, state superinten dent of education who took office in January, to discuss school needs. It was said to be the first time in the history of the state that the gover nor had met jointly with the state, county and city superintendents. Gov. Folsom called for a cooper ative effort to provide for the high way, school and welfare needs of the state. He heard the superintendents endorse a 150 million dollar bond issue for school construction. The superintendents also recommended an additional appropriation of 25 million dollars a year to raise teach- Arkansas Continued From Page 2 school districts at their discretion. Rep. Elmer Tackett of Garland County opposed it on the ground that it was “premature and possibly unconstitutional.” “Until the U. S. Supreme Court tells us what we must do we are prematurely forcing the issue and thereby endangering the cause,” Tackett said. The measure, on passage, was transmitted immediately to the Sen ate where it was assigned to the Judiciary A Committee. The Senate has an identical measure (Senate Bill 319) pending before it. The roll call on the emergency clause first was 66-15, or just one vote short of the necessary majority. Twenty minutes later, Rep. Charlie G- Johnston of Craighead County gave notice of reconsideration. Rep. Russell C. Roberts of Faulkner County promptly moved for im- m ediate reconsideration, which was granted by a voice vote. As the chamber clamored “call the p ’ Rep- L. H. Autry of Mississippi ounty, who hadn’t voted on the bill, obtained recognition. 1 wanted to speak against this bill o while ago,” he said. “But to have °ue so would have been misunder- °od. The easiest way for all of us °w is to let this bill go to the Sen- at ® as it now is. A difference of 90 days (in the e = ll je date of the measure) makes tim *? erence - It will be effective in , e for the next school term if it sorn 0rneS 3 ' aw ‘ R C0U I < I create not L VWy em I> arras sing situations— dist betWeen races—but in the school ( fren!” tS ' nvo ^ v f n S only white chil- C 0 6 R' Ka °x Kinney of St. Francis ure y Inquired whether the meas- Rer tore * 3e re f er red to the Novem- r e f ® general election by initiative emer 6naUm R R didn’t have the th^ S f ncy dense. Autry replied that tv, C0U 'R But expressed doubt m n ,,„ ere would be a referendum ve ment. genev ^,° Use then rejected the emer- v °te of a Q USe a 2 a * n —this time by a a §ainst ^ ^° r c * ause ^9 ArW 6brUary 22 > Ne g ro lead i gam st aS t i, marshale d their (Housp ir® House-approved serve 488) designed to Lg egre gation with red tap Hie the counter-attac ^'ation 11833 democratic Vote] ^Pport ’ t Negro group, wit f?r th e ° a tbe National Assoc Re°pi e Advancement of C- ers’ salaries—which, it was noted, are now $900 below the national average —and to provide additional super vising principals. SCHOOL CRISIS CITED The superintendents agreed that public education in Alabama “faces its greatest crisis” since the Civil War. In addition to the acute class room shortage, there is a dearth of funds for maintenance of existing facilities, the educators said. Over crowding on school buses has also become a greater problem because of the shortage of funds with which to buy additional buses. Finally, there is the problem of Alabama teachers being lured away to other southern states paying higher teacher salaries. A total of 3,394 emergency teach ers’ certificates have been issued for the current year, Dr. Meadows said. Such certificates permit teachers without college degrees or special teacher training to teach. (School forces are seeking a $600 a year across-the-boards pay in crease for Alabama’s 25,000 teachers. This alone would require an addi tional 15 million dollars a year.) Dr. Meadows said that the capital outlay allotment in the state’s Mini mum Equalization Program, in tended to bring state school con struction up to minimum require ments, is still no higher than the average annual outlay during the four worst depression years of the 1930’s. And most of the current out lay is being used to retire existing school bonds, he said. The number of pupils per teacher is still on the same basis as during the depression years, Dr. Meadows added. SPARKMAN STATEMENT In Washington, Sen. John Spark man (D-Ala.) said on Feb. 10 that many Alabama children are going to school in buildings which were put up 40 or 50 years ago—“many of which should more honestly be called shacks.” Not only are the buildings old, Sen. Sparkman said, “They are also extremely over crowded, unsanitary and unsafe.” Sparkman said that according to the latest survey figures compiled by the U. S. Office of Education, more than 50,000 of Alabama’s school children are going,to school in rented quarters or facilities other than reg ular school buildings. “And our teachers face one of the worst situations in the country,” he said. “Unless we attract more good teachers through better schools and improved salaries, conditions will grow increasingly worse. . . . The average teacher’s pay in Alabama now runs around $2,600 a year, much less than that of other pro fessions that require similar periods of training. However, Sparkman said, Alabama has conscientiously sought to meet her school needs, and has made a much greater effort than the ma jority of states. “In the United States as a whole,” he said, “the states spend an average of 2.27% of their income from state and local sources for schools. Alabama spends 2.69% and still is far behind wealthier states in providing its children with even the minimum school needs.” In urging Congress to give speedy approval to a school building con struction program, Sparkman said that Alabama resources have simply not been adequate to cope with the demands of the state’s increasing school population. Without federal help, he said, Alabama will never be able to catch up with the serious building backlog which has been growing since the late 1930s. Sen. Sparkman is one of the spon sors of several bills to provide aid for school construction. IKE’S PLAN SCORED President Eisenhower’s proposal that the government buy school bonds from communities unable to sell them in the open market won’t help Alabama’s situation, State Supt. Meadows said on Feb. 10. As inter preted by Dr. Meadows, the govern ment would charge an interest rate of three and one-eighth per cent. “The interest rate proposed by the President is much too high,” Dr. Meadows said. “We can sell bonds DR. AUSTIN R. MEADOWS Alabama School Superintendent here for half that amount.” However, Meadows said, Alabama would wel come federal matching grants. COURT CRITICIZED Two regulations aimed at the Su preme Court’s ruling outlawing seg regation in public schools were in troduced in the February special session of the Alabama legislature. Both houses unanimously approved a resolution introduced by Sen. Walter C. Givhan of Dallas County in Alabama’s centrally located Black Belt. The resolution petitions Con gress to limit the jurisdiction of the U. S. Supreme Court and other fed eral courts on appeals from state courts. Givhan’s resolution noted that the U. S. Supreme Court through “numerous opinions and de cisions” has invaded the fields of legislative and executive branches of government as well as State’s rights. Sen. Givhan has been active in the White Citizens Councils movement in Alabama, (southern school news, Jan. 6). A second resolution, which was not voted on immediately, was intro duced by State Sen. Sam Engelhardt of the Black Belt county of Macon. Engelhardt introduced a “private school” bill in the 1953 legislature, but it remained bottled up in com mittee. While still favoring that bill, he has also prepared another which he expects to introduce as a fallback plan in case the legislature regards the private school plan as too drastic. His second bill would preserve class room segregation by a rigidly regu lated placement system. His resolu tion, which he introduced on Feb. 15, notes that the constitution of Ala bama provides for segregated schools. This policy has resulted in “great economic, cultural and social bene fits to all of the people of this state,” the resolution says, but adds: “. . . Any weakening or reversal of that policy would bring about vio lence, disorder, breaches of the peace, riots, bloodshed and ill-feelings to such an extent that it would be ex tremely difficult, if not impossible, for civil authorities to prevent re grettable action of this kind. The resolution calls the Supreme Court’s segregation opinion of last May “unconstitutional.” ROW WITH GOVERNOR On Feb. 12, three days before in troducing his resolution, Engelhardt told the press that Gov. Folsom had threatened, on Feb. 1, to register “every damn nigger” (sic) in Macon County if Engelhardt did not support his road program. Engelhardt was among the senators who opposed Fol som’s road plan, which, as amended by the House, called for a two-cent increase in gas taxes and the is suance of 100 million dollars in rev enue bonds. Engelhardt favored a referendum on the issue, which Fol som did not want. In announcing Folsom’s alleged threat, Engelhardt said: “I haven’t revealed this threat earlier, because I was waiting on Folsom to take it back. But he hasn’t done so, and I feel the good people of Alabama, both white and colored, should see the tactics being used by the governor. “I can’t visualize any native Ala bamian resorting to such methods which could jeopardize the good feel ings that now exist between the peo ple of both races in Macon County as well as in other counties of the SOUTHERN SCHOOL state. It appears to me that when a governor must use such tricks to pass his program, then there must be something wrong with it.” Engelhardt quoted Folsom’s Feb. 1 message to him as saying: “If you don’t go along with my highway pro gram, I’m going to get a new board of registrars in Macon County and register ever damn nigger in the county.” County boards of registrars, which have virtually autonomous powers to register or refuse to register pros pective voters, are appointed by a board composed of the governor, state auditor and commissioner of agricul ture. Macon County, with 84.4% of its population Negro, has the highest Negro-white ratio in the state and reportedly the highest in the nation. It is the home county of world famous Tuskegee Institute. Tuskegee is also the location of one of the state’s more active NAACP chapters. Macon is virtually un-industrialized; agriculture is the principal occupa tion, cotton the chief money crop. The county ranks 27th among cotton- producing counties in the state. Sen. Engelhardt is a farmer, merchant and ginner at Shorter. He operates a large plantation at Shorter, employ ing a number of Negro families. Of the Folsom threat he said: “I do not think the Negroes of my county are ready to take an active part in politics, and if Gov. Folsom should carry out his threat of regis tering all of them to vote, I am afraid it would not benefit either race.” Folsom refused to confirm or deny making the threat. He did not reply to Engelhardt’s comments. LOW REGISTRATION Of the 25,000 Negroes in Macon County, only about 1,000 are regis tered to vote. This fact was criticized on Feb. 11, the day before Engelhardt revealed Folsom’s threat, by Judge Hubert P. Delany, Negro, New York City domestic relations jurist ad dressing the annual Founders Day meeting of the Tuskegee chapter of NAACP. Speaking at Tuskegee In stitute, Judge Delany said: “I hear that brother Folsom is getting a little better, but if he doesn’t move fast and get you a reg istration board in Macon County, I am advising you to get in touch with the NAACP and have your local chapter file a mandamus compelling the registration of all Negro voters in Macon County. “I don’t believe you people believe in representative government. You have 25,000 Negroes in the county and only 4,000 whites, yet you have no representative in the state legisla ture and only about 1,000 registered Negro voters. “The time has come when it may be necessary to sacrifice our jobs and even our lives if necessary to speak what we believe in our hearts. We are now engaged in a cold war with Russia and we are trying to win the people of Europe. But we can’t win those people with the type of democ racy that is preached by Jimmy Byrnes, Herman Talmadge and Bull Connor.” He warned that if the Negro peo ple of the South do not stand up for their convictions “we may lose the actual battle of integration after winning the written battle last May.” The only reason any Negro is against integration, he said, is “because he is afraid.” “Deep down in our hearts we all want equality,” he said. Judge Delany said that some states may use stalling tactics to delay in tegration in the schools. “You don’t give a convicted criminal two or three years before punishing him,” he said, “Why should you give a state any time?” He added: “Blood will not flow in the streets of the South. We don’t believe in bloodshed. But we are going to fight for the things in which we believe. And the Byrneses and Talmadges are not going to stand in our way.” Judge Delany was introduced by Dr. Luther H. Foster, president of Tuskegee Institute. The day Judge Delany’s speech ap peared in newspapers, Feb. 13, Sen. Engelhardt revealed Folsom’s regis tration threat of Feb. 1. RESOLUTIONS OFFERED On Feb. 15, Engelhardt and Givhan introduced their resolutions in the legislature aimed at integration. After stating that “any weakening of (Alabama’s segregation policy) NEWS—March 3, 1955—PAGE 3 would bring about violence, disorder, breaches of the peace, riots, blood shed. . . .” Engelhardt’s resolution continues in part: . . The decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Brown et al v. Board of Edu cation, 347 U. S. 483, and companion cases, are not binding on the state of Alabama or on the people of this state and not to be respected by an official of this state. “We brand as unqualifiedly false and completely untrue, in so far as the state of Alabama is concerned, the statement in the opinion of the Supreme Court of the U. S. to the effect that: “ ‘Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a det rimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law. Seg regation with the sanction of the law, therefore, has a tendency to retard the educational and mental develop ment of some Negro children and to deprive them of some of the bene fits they would receive in a racially integrated school system.’ “The remarkable progress made by colored children in segregated schools in Alabama, which is much greater than the progress made by children of the same race in in tegrated schools in other sections of the country, completely and conclu sively demonstrates the fallacy of the statement quoted.” The resolution states that segrega tion in Alabama has never been spe cifically outlawed and is still in force and effect. In a paragraph obviously referring to Gov. Folsom’s refusal to commit himself to any plan, such as Engelhardt’s “private school” pro posal, to preserve segregated class rooms, the resolution concludes: “. . . We hereby declare our un qualified allegiance to this provision of the constitution of Alabama (re quiring segregation) and we call upon the chief executive of this state to make known in a most appropriate manner a fixed determination to up hold, support and defend this pro vision in our organic law in every lawful way.” Unlike Givhan’s resolution, which was approved unanimously, Engel hardt’s was sent to committee for study. The committee recommended that the resolution be adopted, but it had not been submitted to a vote by Feb. 22. CITIZENS COUNCIL Some 400 members of the Dallas County White Citizens Council con vened in Selma, Alabama, on Feb. 2 to hear Robert B. Patterson, Mis sissippi planter, tell how his state intends to retain segregation. Patterson, 33-year-old former Mis sissippi State football star, said there will never be any race integration in Mississippi. “We will stand firm with the other fifty million people in the South,” he said, “or we will stand alone.” “The integration monster creates the most serious crisis in the South since the Civil War,” Patterson said. He continued: “The people of the South have been complacent and apathetic for many years. Every battle we have lost has been by default. Some great philosopher once said, ‘all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’ and that certainly applies to us.” Noting that there are only 300,000 members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People while there are fifty million Southerners, Patterson said: “If 50,000,000 of us can’t keep our race white, then we aren’t fit to be white, and we won’t be white very long. . . . I’ve got three little children and they are either going to a white school or they are not going to a school at all. “The newspapers up North have said a lot of things about us. They have treated us unfairly and for that matter a lot of newspapers in the South have been unfair too. But I am not crying about it. The truth will out in the end. “Some people think we are the Ku Klux Klan. We’re not. We don’t cover our faces and we aren’t bait ing anybody. ... In places like Chi cago and Detroit they hate the Negro. Here the Negro is our friend and we are his friend. But we in Mississippi will never stand for the integration monster.”
